S. Korea gets tough on abusive sports coaches

SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea on Tuesday unveiled measures aimed at protecting athletes from violent coaches, as a survey showed physical and mental abuse was widely accepted in both amateur and elite sports circles.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced a principle of "zero tolerance" for coaches caught beating athletes to force them to train harder.

A nationwide database will be created to track coaches' disciplinary records, and sports governing bodies will be obliged to use independent experts for probes into abuse cases.

Any organisations that fail to abide by the guidelines face losing their government grants.